This question is of utmost importance and has been raised many times by several seekers in ancient hindu texts, puran and upanishads. Lets begin by understanding qualities of deeds, the karma. According to Bhagwat Geeta, Karma has three types of quality called Gunas namely Sado-guna, Rajo-guna and Tamo-guna. Lets understand it with following example. Suppose you are eating your food and dog comes nearby for some left-by food. Now you can shoo away the dog and continue enjoying your food. This is the type of Karma that has Tamo-guna. Tamas means darkness. Or you may choose to part some food to the dog. This is an act of Rajo-Guna. While this is desirable, at times it results in rise of ego/pride in the doer. Another choice is, at the beginning itself, he spares some food for the dog. This is example of Sado-Guna. Sado-Guna is an ideal form of karma which is better than Rajo-Guna because it results in rise in ego. Ego can also rise from Sado-guna and if it does, it is to be considered as Rajo-Guna. Sado-Guna is better than Rajo-Guna and Rajo-Guna is better than Tamo-Guna. All the Karma that we do falls in one of these categories.
The moment we are born on earth and breath the air first time is considered an important time when our life begins. The planetary configuration at this time is called Janm Kundali/Chart/Horoscope. Vedic astrology enunciates that ones life pattern can be judged from planetary configuration at birth time. While it is commonly believed to be key to ones future, it is actually report card of ones past. Your horoscope is your report card of past life Karma. Such Karma that we come burdened with from past life is called Sanchit Karma (The Collective Karma). Horoscopes can be judged to identify times when fruits of those karmas will be obtained. As time proceeds, set of Karmas from the sanchit karma starts playing then it is called Kriyaman Karma (The active Karma). In order to fulfill, these Kriyaman karmas, destiny will give your environment, people and resources. And the destiny gives you free will to do fulfil your Kriyaman Karmas. While experiencing your Kriyaman Karma, you also accrue Karmas of your deeds in current life. Tamo-Guna Karmas we do in current life gets accrued and added to our Sanchit Karma which may turn to active Karma in current or future lives. Let me explain with an example. Suppose somebody deserts his parents in old age in past life. Then in this birth, he will born at time when Sun and Moon will be mutual kendra in current life. Sun and Moon in mutual quadrant activates in current life by giving unstable source of income in current life. His acts of past life got accrued as Sanchit Karma when he came in current life. And it started playing in current life as Kriyaman Karma and gave him bad finances. It is possible that he may not desert his parents in current life but still his finances will not be good because these are fruits of his past life karma. Precisely for this reason, Bhagwan Shri Krishna says to do Nishkam Karma, i.e. to perform duties without desiring any results. Because results are coming from Sanchit Karma.
So overall our aim should be perform duties with as much as possible having qualities of Sado-Guna and never desire for fruits of those karmas because that anyway is in not our hands.
Very beautiful ... just want to add to the concluding statement that the fruits are created by our karmas and are in our hands but we do not know as to when we will get the fruits, in this janma or after several future janmas .... because the karma is the seed and the for the seed to grow into a tree and give back fruit takes years (lives)
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